soul S3 W3 / səʊl $ soʊl / 名词

1 sb’s spirit [可数名词] the part of a person that is not physical, and that contains their character, thoughts, and feelings. Many people believe that a person’s soul continues to exist after they have died. → spirit :

the immortality of the soul

It was as if those grey eyes could see into the very depths of her soul .

in sb’s soul

the restlessness deep in his soul

the souls of the dead

2 person [可数名词] used in particular 短语 to mean a person

happy/sensitive/brave/simple etc soul

He is really quite a sensitive soul.

not a (living) soul (= no one )

I promise I won’t tell a soul .

not a soul in sight/not a soul to be seen

The night was dark and still, and there was not a soul in sight.

poor (old) soul (= used to show pity for someone )

The poor old soul had fallen and broken her hip.

3 music ( also soul music ) [不可数名词] a type of popular music that often expresses deep emotions, usually performed by black singers and musicians :

He listens to a lot of soul.

a soul band

4 sense of beauty [不可数名词]

a) the ability to be emotionally affected by art, music, literature etc :

My brother thinks that anyone who doesn’t like poetry has no soul.

b) the quality that affects people emotionally, that a painting, piece of music etc can have :

Her performance was technically perfect, but it lacked soul.

5 special quality [不可数名词] the special quality or part that gives something its true character

soul of

Basho’s poems capture the true soul of old Japan.

6 be the soul of discretion to always be extremely careful to keep secrets :

Leon is the very soul of discretion.

7 be good for the soul if something is good for the soul, it is good for you and you should do it, even though it may seem unpleasant – often used humorously :

They say that hardship is good for the soul.

8 God rest his/her soul used when you mention the name of someone who is dead :

My father, God rest his soul, died here at Vernison Hall.

9 people in a place souls [复数形式] literary the number of souls in a place is the number of people who live there :

a village of two or three hundred souls

10 bless my soul/upon my soul old-fashioned spoken used to express surprise

→ bare your soul at bare 2 ( 2 ) , → be the life and soul of the party at life ( 16 ) , → keep body and soul together at body ( 13 ) , → heart and soul at heart ( 2 ) , → sell your soul (to the devil) at sell 1 ( 9 )